Formal and Informal Assessment of Student Learning
Name: Jillian Schneider
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
See Project Page for assignment details.
II. Preparation / Development
1. Reflect on your current assessment practices. How have you been determining what students understand and what they are able to do?
To see if students understand the material as a teacher I give both formal and informal assessments. Also, I ask the students if they feel comfortable with the material or if there is something they need to go over. Many of the times the students will tell me they want me to go over something again or that they feel they need more practice. At least two times per week, I give the students a starter. This is in the form of a short three to five question quiz. This acts to reinforce the information and the students can use this as a self check to see what they know or need to study more. Additionally, I give homework at least 2 or three nights a week. The homework is either collected graded or we review the homework in class together. This is another way that the students are able to get instant feed back and I can check for understanding.
2. Describe the concept(s) that you are trying to assess in these assignments. Include a link to the appropriate GSE(s) on RIScienceTeachers. Be sure to include in your description your definition, examples of what it is, why students have difficulty with this concept, and why it is important that you teach this topic
The MS GSEs for energy have not been unpacked. Why didn't you answer the questions above? - fogleman
3. (and 7) Describe an informal assessment that you selected, modified, or designed to address this concept. Summarize the instructions you gave your students and Include a link to the informal assessment here as well.
The assessment I gave, was a starter that took 5-10 minutes at the beginning of the class. We had gone over 6 different forms as of energy on Friday and done a graphic organizer. A large part of the graphic organizer we did , involved drawing flow maps. The first question of the starter was to draw a flow map. The second two questions were asking basic recall of important information that the students need to know about energy. This starter was a practice for the quiz they were having tomorrow.
4. (and 8) Create a formal assessment. Describe this assessment, including concepts, types of items, and how it was assessed. Include a link to a copy of the assessment here as well.
The formal assessment is a 15 question quiz that the students take midway through the unit to check for understanding. The quiz asked the students to draw a flow map to explain how a type of energy is turned into electricity. There were also multiple choice, true/ false and one short answer. The concepts were: what are the two forms of energy, what are the different types of energy? How is energy captured? Also, the students needed to be able to identify different examples of the types of energy.
5. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your formal assessment or link it here.
Quiz is worth 30 points question 1 is worth 4 points. All other questions are worth 2 points. Question 6 was worth 1 point and question 15 was worth 1 point. Many students got these two questions wrong because I made a poor word choice. I don't think the question was very clear so I made these two questions worth less points. Below is the key to the assessment.
6. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your informal assessment or link it here. This description should include the assessment's features, how it addresses different depths of knowledge, as well as an explanation of how it addresses a scientific practice related to inquiry.
This assessment was a starter. It was meant to be taken during the first five minutes of class to see if the students remembered what we were talking about on friday. This was also a pre- assessment for the quiz they were going to take the following day. The students were able to use this sheet, along with other materials, to study of for their quiz. We had done many flow maps related to energy on friday and all the students assured me that they understood the concept. Being able to draw or make a diagram to explain the flow of energy through a system is an important part of being able to explain a difficult concept. The first question was designed to see if the students 1.) new how hydropower works. 2.) to see if they could draw a full flow map of how power is generated and 3.) to see if they could get the connection between turbines, generators and make electricity. The second question was a factual recall question desgined to see if the students were paying attention to other students presntations on friday and how much they retained over the weekend. The third question was designed to see if the students knew the difference between potential energy and kinetic energy. These are the two main forms of energy and a distinction that the students must be able to make.
I assume "Electricity" is your term for "electrical potential energy" which is related to voltage. ;-) - fogleman
7. & 8. - Already addressed above.
9. For your informal assessment, upload scans of the work of three or four students. The work of each student should be on a different page. At the bottom of each students' page, you should describe the level of student understanding, e.g. high, average, or low, and describe how this is indicated in their answers. An example of how to do this is here. Note: Remember to name the pages you create carefully, e.g. "Smith S10 - High Performing" instead of "High-Performing."
I guess you missed the instructions for naming your files. - fogleman
This is an example of a student who didn't answer the first question and then filled it in as we were going over it. This would be example of low performing
This is an example of student work that is high preforming and a visual learner. Although his answer is non traditional it is still 100% correct
Shouldn't "energy flow diagrams" include the forms of energy at the various stages? If a student lists "dam --> water released --> turbine --> generator --> electricity" then how do you know that he or she is imagining the energy of at each stage, or just listing the mechanism chain that produces electricity? I would expect students to write something like: dam stores water (gravitational potential energy) --> released water turns turbine (kinetic energy of water, kinetic energy of turbine) --> spinning turbine drives generator (kinetic energy of turbine, electrical potential energy produced by generator). - fogleman
10. For you formal assessment, describe how you think it addressed the concepts you were trying to assess? How did you modify the assessment to address learning differences or special needs?
The formal assessment was meant to check students understanding of energy. The quiz was assessing basic knowledge of energy concepts. Also, it was to see if the students could differentiate between the two different forms of energy and types of energy. The most important question was to see if students knew how different energies can be transformed into electrical energy. Students need to have a basic understanding of what energy is, what are the different types and examples renewable and non-renewable energies. I think the assessment was a good tool for checking basic understanding of energy. Each student was provided with a divider which allow the students to have a private work space. Also, the students with special needs took the test in another room where they were given additional time.
I agree with you that it is important for Ss to understand energy transformation. Do you think they could explain how energy is transformed without using the names of the energy forms? For example: What is wind energy? How can it be used to produce electricity? - fogleman
III. Analysis / Reflection
11. Use both the informal and formal assessments to describe what you learned about what your students understand about these concepts. Use specific examples from both the informal and formal assessment to illustrate your points. What can your students do now that they could not before, and what do they still need to learn?
The average for approximately 80 students was a 74% correct. This means that at little over half of the students passed with a 70% or above. Overall, I was very pleased with the results. A majority of the grades were in the 89-70 range. This means that students are comprehending most of the material taught. Where the students struggled was the flow map questions. Most of the students got this question wrong or partially wrong. This means that I need to go back and re-teach energy transformations and spend more time with this concepts. Additionally, most students struggled with this is question during the informal assessment. This should have been a red flag that the students needed more time with this concept, but I thought that they just needed to study more. Now I know that I should have spent more time on energy transformations.
12. OMIT
13. For your formal assessment only, select one student characteristic, e.g. ability, gender, age, etc) and compare the relative performance of each group. Hint: Use box and whiskers plots to compare the two groups. What do you conclude from this comparison? Why? I decide to compare the autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)students scores with the regular education student's scores.The ASD students preformed much lower than the regular education students when you average the scores.
14. Describe any ways in which you involved students in self-assessment. How did you communicate what you learned from your informal and formal assessments to your students? What did they do with this information?
We corrected the informal assessment in class. I told the student that a flow map question would definitely be on the test. If they got this question wrong I told them they needed to study their flow maps more for the quiz tomorrow. The students had the opportunity to correct their own answer and right down the correct answer as it was a being modeled on the board by another student. This flow map was taken straight from their graphic organizer. The students took this informal assessment home to study from. The formal assessment was given back and reviewed in class. The students had an opportunity to ask questions and now we are reviewing energy transformations again be they are retested on energy transformations.
Are "flow maps" in the students' textbooks? I know that they are mentioned in the GSEs but google gives me nothing. I never heard of them before coming to RI.... but what do I know, I'm just a physics major. ;-) Are they used in biology? The important thing is how you use them as a way for students to represent their understanding of energy transformations. - fogleman
15: Most Important: Compare your objectives for student learning (both in terms of science concepts and practices) to the student learning you observed. What did you learn about your teaching based on the student performances? What will you do differently next time? Why would you make these changes? What, if anything, will you do to improve the assessment instruments?
I learned that many of the special needs students failed or did very poorly on the formal assessment that I gave. Even though these students had extra time they still did not understand the material and were not able to use the information to answer the questions. If I were to give a big assessment like this again I would make a modified version of the test that had bold faced words highlighted and additional scaffolds. Additionally, I thought my formal assessment was mostly questions on factual recall and next time I would like to make my test have more depth in terms of blooms taxonomy. The formal assessment also highlighted the fact that many of the students did not understand the basic facts about energy. This could be for two reason, either one they didn't study or two they just weren't comfortable with the material. I believe it was a combination of both. Also, only two students out of 70 got a perfect score, therefore I know the students found the test difficult. Next time, I would spend more time on informal assessments before giving the students the formal assessment. Moreover, I would reword some of the questions differently next time I make a test and I would spend more time ensuring that my questions are clear and direct with out being easy. Overall, the class average was 74, which is average and more than half of the students passed the test with a 70% or above. I would like to raise the average score to a 76 or higher next time I make a formal assessment.
Energy is actually extremely abstract and difficult to understand. See for example Feynman's description of the energy conservation in the History section of the Wikipedia page on Energy. Teachers often make the mistake of reducing energy and energy transformation as a series of vocabulary words that students of course memorize and regurgitate without trying to understand. - fogleman
Name: Jillian Schneider
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
II. Preparation / Development
1. Reflect on your current assessment practices. How have you been determining what students understand and what they are able to do?
To see if students understand the material as a teacher I give both formal and informal assessments. Also, I ask the students if they feel comfortable with the material or if there is something they need to go over. Many of the times the students will tell me they want me to go over something again or that they feel they need more practice. At least two times per week, I give the students a starter. This is in the form of a short three to five question quiz. This acts to reinforce the information and the students can use this as a self check to see what they know or need to study more. Additionally, I give homework at least 2 or three nights a week. The homework is either collected graded or we review the homework in class together. This is another way that the students are able to get instant feed back and I can check for understanding.
2. Describe the concept(s) that you are trying to assess in these assignments. Include a link to the appropriate GSE(s) on RIScienceTeachers. Be sure to include in your description your definition, examples of what it is, why students have difficulty with this concept, and why it is important that you teach this topic
GSE 5-8 Energy
The MS GSEs for energy have not been unpacked. Why didn't you answer the questions above? -
3. (and 7) Describe an informal assessment that you selected, modified, or designed to address this concept. Summarize the instructions you gave your students and Include a link to the informal assessment here as well.
The assessment I gave, was a starter that took 5-10 minutes at the beginning of the class. We had gone over 6 different forms as of energy on Friday and done a graphic organizer. A large part of the graphic organizer we did , involved drawing flow maps. The first question of the starter was to draw a flow map. The second two questions were asking basic recall of important information that the students need to know about energy. This starter was a practice for the quiz they were having tomorrow.
4. (and 8) Create a formal assessment. Describe this assessment, including concepts, types of items, and how it was assessed. Include a link to a copy of the assessment here as well.
The formal assessment is a 15 question quiz that the students take midway through the unit to check for understanding. The quiz asked the students to draw a flow map to explain how a type of energy is turned into electricity. There were also multiple choice, true/ false and one short answer. The concepts were: what are the two forms of energy, what are the different types of energy? How is energy captured? Also, the students needed to be able to identify different examples of the types of energy.
5. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your formal assessment or link it here.
Quiz is worth 30 points question 1 is worth 4 points. All other questions are worth 2 points. Question 6 was worth 1 point and question 15 was worth 1 point. Many students got these two questions wrong because I made a poor word choice. I don't think the question was very clear so I made these two questions worth less points. Below is the key to the assessment.
6. Develop the evaluation criteria (or key) for your informal assessment or link it here. This description should include the assessment's features, how it addresses different depths of knowledge, as well as an explanation of how it addresses a scientific practice related to inquiry.
This assessment was a starter. It was meant to be taken during the first five minutes of class to see if the students remembered what we were talking about on friday. This was also a pre- assessment for the quiz they were going to take the following day. The students were able to use this sheet, along with other materials, to study of for their quiz. We had done many flow maps related to energy on friday and all the students assured me that they understood the concept. Being able to draw or make a diagram to explain the flow of energy through a system is an important part of being able to explain a difficult concept. The first question was designed to see if the students 1.) new how hydropower works. 2.) to see if they could draw a full flow map of how power is generated and 3.) to see if they could get the connection between turbines, generators and make electricity.
The second question was a factual recall question desgined to see if the students were paying attention to other students presntations on friday and how much they retained over the weekend.
The third question was designed to see if the students knew the difference between potential energy and kinetic energy. These are the two main forms of energy and a distinction that the students must be able to make.
I assume "Electricity" is your term for "electrical potential energy" which is related to voltage. ;-) -
7. & 8. - Already addressed above.
9. For your informal assessment, upload scans of the work of three or four students. The work of each student should be on a different page. At the bottom of each students' page, you should describe the level of student understanding, e.g. high, average, or low, and describe how this is indicated in their answers. An example of how to do this is here. Note: Remember to name the pages you create carefully, e.g. "Smith S10 - High Performing" instead of "High-Performing."
I guess you missed the instructions for naming your files. -
Shouldn't "energy flow diagrams" include the forms of energy at the various stages? If a student lists "dam --> water released --> turbine --> generator --> electricity" then how do you know that he or she is imagining the energy of at each stage, or just listing the mechanism chain that produces electricity? I would expect students to write something like: dam stores water (gravitational potential energy) --> released water turns turbine (kinetic energy of water, kinetic energy of turbine) --> spinning turbine drives generator (kinetic energy of turbine, electrical potential energy produced by generator). -
10. For you formal assessment, describe how you think it addressed the concepts you were trying to assess? How did you modify the assessment to address learning differences or special needs?
The formal assessment was meant to check students understanding of energy. The quiz was assessing basic knowledge of energy concepts. Also, it was to see if the students could differentiate between the two different forms of energy and types of energy. The most important question was to see if students knew how different energies can be transformed into electrical energy. Students need to have a basic understanding of what energy is, what are the different types and examples renewable and non-renewable energies. I think the assessment was a good tool for checking basic understanding of energy. Each student was provided with a divider which allow the students to have a private work space. Also, the students with special needs took the test in another room where they were given additional time.
I agree with you that it is important for Ss to understand energy transformation. Do you think they could explain how energy is transformed without using the names of the energy forms? For example: What is wind energy? How can it be used to produce electricity? -
III. Analysis / Reflection
11. Use both the informal and formal assessments to describe what you learned about what your students understand about these concepts. Use specific examples from both the informal and formal assessment to illustrate your points. What can your students do now that they could not before, and what do they still need to learn?
The average for approximately 80 students was a 74% correct. This means that at little over half of the students passed with a 70% or above. Overall, I was very pleased with the results. A majority of the grades were in the 89-70 range. This means that students are comprehending most of the material taught. Where the students struggled was the flow map questions. Most of the students got this question wrong or partially wrong. This means that I need to go back and re-teach energy transformations and spend more time with this concepts. Additionally, most students struggled with this is question during the informal assessment. This should have been a red flag that the students needed more time with this concept, but I thought that they just needed to study more. Now I know that I should have spent more time on energy transformations.
12. OMIT
13. For your formal assessment only, select one student characteristic, e.g. ability, gender, age, etc) and compare the relative performance of each group. Hint: Use box and whiskers plots to compare the two groups. What do you conclude from this comparison? Why?
I decide to compare the autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)students scores with the regular education student's scores.The ASD students preformed much lower than the regular education students when you average the scores.
14. Describe any ways in which you involved students in self-assessment. How did you communicate what you learned from your informal and formal assessments to your students? What did they do with this information?
We corrected the informal assessment in class. I told the student that a flow map question would definitely be on the test. If they got this question wrong I told them they needed to study their flow maps more for the quiz tomorrow. The students had the opportunity to correct their own answer and right down the correct answer as it was a being modeled on the board by another student. This flow map was taken straight from their graphic organizer. The students took this informal assessment home to study from. The formal assessment was given back and reviewed in class. The students had an opportunity to ask questions and now we are reviewing energy transformations again be they are retested on energy transformations.
Are "flow maps" in the students' textbooks? I know that they are mentioned in the GSEs but google gives me nothing. I never heard of them before coming to RI.... but what do I know, I'm just a physics major. ;-) Are they used in biology? The important thing is how you use them as a way for students to represent their understanding of energy transformations. -
15: Most Important: Compare your objectives for student learning (both in terms of science concepts and practices) to the student learning you observed. What did you learn about your teaching based on the student performances? What will you do differently next time? Why would you make these changes? What, if anything, will you do to improve the assessment instruments?
I learned that many of the special needs students failed or did very poorly on the formal assessment that I gave. Even though these students had extra time they still did not understand the material and were not able to use the information to answer the questions. If I were to give a big assessment like this again I would make a modified version of the test that had bold faced words highlighted and additional scaffolds. Additionally, I thought my formal assessment was mostly questions on factual recall and next time I would like to make my test have more depth in terms of blooms taxonomy. The formal assessment also highlighted the fact that many of the students did not understand the basic facts about energy. This could be for two reason, either one they didn't study or two they just weren't comfortable with the material. I believe it was a combination of both. Also, only two students out of 70 got a perfect score, therefore I know the students found the test difficult. Next time, I would spend more time on informal assessments before giving the students the formal assessment. Moreover, I would reword some of the questions differently next time I make a test and I would spend more time ensuring that my questions are clear and direct with out being easy. Overall, the class average was 74, which is average and more than half of the students passed the test with a 70% or above. I would like to raise the average score to a 76 or higher next time I make a formal assessment.
Energy is actually extremely abstract and difficult to understand. See for example Feynman's description of the energy conservation in the History section of the Wikipedia page on Energy. Teachers often make the mistake of reducing energy and energy transformation as a series of vocabulary words that students of course memorize and regurgitate without trying to understand. -